Torres del Paine & El Chaltén, Chile & Argentina
The W circuit and Fitz Roy in one run, with the border crossing handled so you're not losing a day to it.
Doing Torres del Paine and El Chaltén in one trip usually costs you two days to logistics. This routing doesn't — the Puerto Natales to El Calafate crossing is pre-booked with a hard seat allocation, and the Fitz Roy base is booked so you're walking on the morning you arrive.
The W is done west-to-east across four days, which means the towers on your last morning rather than your first. You get one weather reroll built into the schedule; in Patagonia you will probably need it.
This is a real walking trip. Six of the nine days involve four hours or more on foot, some of it in wind that will genuinely surprise you.
Transfer to Puerto Natales. Gear check and route briefing in the evening.
Catamaran across Pehoé, then up to Refugio Grey. Four hours, gentle enough to break you in.
Out to the glacier viewpoints and the suspension bridges. Long day, spectacular payoff.
The hardest day of the W. Hanging glacier at the top of the valley, then down to Cuernos.
Pre-dawn push to the mirador. The towers at sunrise are the reason you came.
Held for weather. If the week has been clear, it becomes a rest day in Natales.
Border crossing to El Calafate. Seats pre-booked, so it's a travel day rather than a lost one.
Optional glacier day, or a slow one in town.
Transfer up in the morning, walk to Mirador Fitz Roy in the afternoon.
The big one. Eight hours, the last of it brutally steep, and worth every step.
Back to El Calafate for onward flights.